Medics provide multifaceted care

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Sean E. Cobb
  • 447th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
CAMP SATHER, Iraq (AFPN) --  Medical technicians here are perfecting the art of multitasking.

Although they receive initial training in a variety of jobs, at a home base the technicians are usually only assigned one job at a time, said Master Sgt. Bill Wnek, the 447th Expeditionary Medical Squadron’s nursing services superintendent.

The technicians’ jobs here include: emergency room and trauma-ward duties, ambulance response service, aeromedical evacuations, immunizations program, X-ray duties, pharmaceutical dispensing, laboratory work, maintaining medical records and managing blood supplies.

“In a combat environment, we don’t have the luxury of staying within our specialties -- we need to branch out and help everywhere we can,” Sergeant Wnek said.

The squadron is a basic medical facility with limited room for inpatient care, he said. Normally, the facility functions as a stabilization and medical evacuation center for seriously injured patients.

However, during mass casualty incidents the squadron accepts overflow patients from other medical facilities in the area, Sergeant Wnek said.

“We expand our care facilities and bring everyone in to work when that happens,” he said.

Airmen who can proficiently and professionally perform so many services are a testament to their training and dedication to do whatever it takes to care for people, said Lt. Col. (Dr.) Gary Benedetti, the squadron’s chief of medical staff and an orthopedic trauma surgeon.

“I have to do very little in the form of supervision,” Dr. Benedetti said. “I’m impressed with their abilities and trust them because they work together as a team to make sure everything is done.”

Although the medical technicians are performing tasks smoothly, it does not mean it is easy, said Staff Sgt. Restie Mangiliman, a 447th EMEDS medical technician.

“At first it was kind of hard because at (Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.) all I do is patient care,” he said. “Here, we do a whole bunch of duties. So we train each other when there is time, and we practice on unfamiliar equipment before we have to use it.”

“The (medical technicians) are an enthusiastic group,” said Maj. (Dr.) Li-ing Chang, a 447th EMEDS general surgeon. “I know they are doing things they don’t usually do, but we have expanded their training into specialties they may not have been exposed to.”

Performing ambulance services is one area of immediate concern for training when a new rotation of medical technicians arrive, said Tech. Sgt. Sterling Castillo, a 447th EMEDS independent-duty medical technician.

Because response times have to be quick when people’s lives are at stake, trainers familiarize medical technicians on locations they are responsible for, and they train them on radio procedures and basic emergency-care duties, Sergeant Castillo said.

“These guys already know (emergency medical technician) basics,” said the sergeant, who has run an ambulance section before. “We practice a lot so everyone knows exactly where to go and exactly what to do.”

The ambulance training proves invaluable when making aeromedical evacuation runs, Sergeant Castillo said.

Frequently, the medics only receive a couple of minutes notice to pick up patients from aircraft, usually at night during blackout conditions, with rotors and propellers still churning.

“It can be unnerving,” Castillo said. “No one wants to mess anything up. Your adrenaline is pumping -- the noise is deafening, and we have people in pain who need help quick.”

Besides the additional duties, even routine procedures are more challenging in a combat environment, Sergeant Mangiliman said. However, the extra effort pays off because the technicians have a closer association with the patients through the hardships, he said.

“The best part is when they call you ‘doc,’” Sergeant Mangiliman said. “We talk to our patients more, get to know them better. Back home it’s more, ‘Hey, you’re Army, I’m Air Force.’ Here, we are all equal.”

On occasion, the medical technicians are required to assist in the operating room, a duty normally conducted by another medical career field -- operating room technician.

“Things move quickly in an operating room,” Dr. Benedetti said.

“The first time in an (operating room) can be intimidating, sometimes there’s a lot of blood and gore,” Dr. Benedetti said. “These (medical technicians) have worked so well, we actually rotate them in so they all get the experience.

“These technicians perform as well as people at any major hospital trauma center in the states,” he said.